Backup solution for my VMs in a CSV environment

Hi everybody,

i have a 2008R2 hyper-v CSV cluster with 3 hosts and a HP MSA P2000 iSCSI array.

I have about 20 production VMs on this array.

I want to secure this infrastructure, and more particularly the array. i have installed the Altaro software that backups all my VMs every 2 days on a RAiD 0 array that I have installed on one of my hosts. Each VM backups its data to another Datacenter with the MOZY online backup, each night.

My idea is that in case of crash of the P2000 array, I will start from the last Altaro's backup and restore the last data from MOZY, but it will be long...

I have an awesome solution. I work as a consultant for an MSP (managed IT service provider) and the product we use is called Replay. It is made by a company called AppAssure. Dell just recently purchased them so that tells you how good they are doing. Anyway this software deduplicates, compresses, and encrypts your backups all on its own. It also takes snapshots/backups every single hour, or whatever interval you set. On top of that it replicates to other backup servers like it. So, for instance at each client we have a backup server and then our main backup server at our datacenter. Each client backup server replicates (super easy to setup within the software) back to our main server in our datacenter so they have their copies and our offsite copies. Also, this software allows you to do what we call a Live Standby. What this means is that it constantly exports the last snapshot of each server as a VM to the Hyper-V host of your choosing so that you always have a hot spare waiting and ready.

Expensive is relative, so it depends on what you think expensive is. I'll say from my end we have a lot of smaller (10-15 computers) clients who manage to afford it for 1-3 servers just like your setup and have no complaints about price.

The support has been questionable, but they are improving all the time. That is probably the only area where I'd say that need lots of improvement still, but it's backed by Dell so it's bound to get better.

When you back up the second, third, fourth, etc., machines it will see data across them all that is common and deduplicate it. I hope that's what you were asking.

If that's not what you were asking, then you should know that you'll need a VM to act as the console/core that does the actual backing up. Then you'll install agents on other VMs and back them up to that VM that is acting as the core/console. The next thing you would want to do is have an offsite core that you replicate the first core to.